Saturday, January 13, 2024

Robert A. Sungenis on Advocate (παράκλητος) in 1 John 2:1-2

  

Since these Scripture passages clearly show that propitiation is necessary for sins both before and after conversion, they support the Catholic concept of progressive justification as opposed to the Protestant concept of a one-time forensic event. Christ the propitiator propitiates both past and future sins. This process implies that the sinner must continually seek to have his sins propitiated in order to receive the continuing mercy of the Father. To promote a purely forensic notion of the propitiation, some Protestants have seized upon the word “Advocate,” claiming that it portrays a legal representative pleading a case before a judge (e.g., Michael Horton in: “What Still Divides Us: A Protestant and Roman Catholic Debate,” Produced by: Christians United For Reformation, March, 1995, audio tape series). The problem with this view is twofold. First, as we have already noted, John is addressing people who are already Christians — Christians who may fall into sin from time to time. From the Protestant perspective, this would encompass the area of sanctification, not justification. The Protestant claim that only justification is forensic, and not sanctification, leaves no room to include forensic categories in 1Jn 2:1-2. Second, the word “Advocate” is from the Greek παραλκητος, and appears elsewhere in the New Testament only in reference to the ministry of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). Since in Protestant theology the ministry of the Holy Spirit is not forensic, it must be conceded that “Advocate” is not necessarily a forensic term. Third, the context of John’s epistle, identical to that of the verse in question, portrays God as “Father,” not as legal magistrate (e.g., 1Jn 1:2, 3; 2:13, 15, 16, 23; 3:1). In an effort to support the forensic view, Lutheran commentator Lenski points to the usage in 1Jn 1:9 of the Greek noun δικαιος (“just”) to describe the Father as “just,” that is, judicially disposed to forgive our sins (Commentary on the First Epistle of John, p. 398). We must insist, however, that the usage of “just” refers in the first place to the character of God, not merely the model through which he relates to us. Similar usages of “just” to describe God’s character appear in Hb 6:10, “For God is not unjust to forget your work,” and in 1Pt 1:17, “Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially.” God is just to his children, as a father should be, treating them fairly as they respond to his mercy. (Robert A. Sungenis, Not By Faith Alone: The Biblical Evidence for the Catholic Doctrine of Justification [2d ed.; State Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics International Publishing Inc., 2009] 378 n. 463)